@cethomson.bsky.social
Newsquest Crime & Investigations Journalist (Essex) 4x Weekly Reporter of the Year 2x Crime & Investigative Reporter of the Year
An Essex drug dealer has told a murder jury his testimony in a previous trial was 'a pack of lies', but insisted he is now telling the truth.
Codey Nolan is accused of kicking and stamping to death Hassan Bousanguar above a Basildon shopping parade.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2568097...
Essex drug dealer Codey Nolan has gone on trial for murder, accused of kicking Hassan Bousanguar to death in a block of flats above a Basildon shopping parade.
My report from the courtroom:
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2566637...
A man is suing Essex Police in part to highlight 'gender bias' in domestic violence cases, a jury has heard.
Mel Pilgrim says he was the real victim, but police failed to prosecute his wife and trumped up charges against him.
The trial began yesterday.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2566395...
A leaked government document proposes scrapping jury trials in the name of expediency, after persistent justice system budget cuts created a years-long trial backlog.
But is axing juries really the answer?
I spoke to Essex lawyers and national experts.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2565799...
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
30.11.2025 09:57 — 👍 3272 🔁 1228 💬 335 📌 336“I bought this house when it was only 300k and now it’s worth 2m, why should I have to leave because I can’t afford a tax???” - so you’re saying you’ve made over a million quid in profit off a house just by it existing and you’re now complaining that’s getting taxed a bit
27.11.2025 12:43 — 👍 110 🔁 13 💬 4 📌 2All of this “woe is me my house is now really expensive and so a tax is unfair” stuff completely negates to acknowledge the implicit fact that the house owner has made an insane profit by doing absolutely nothing
27.11.2025 12:41 — 👍 276 🔁 55 💬 14 📌 5
Well, this is quite a serious allegation. I do hope the BBC shows true impartiality and investigate whether or not some of its Board members are systemically biased. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...
11.11.2025 07:34 — 👍 1058 🔁 376 💬 42 📌 15What a coincidence that Fleet Street’s pathetic histrionics over the BBC’s horrifying decision to, er, play Donald Trump’s own words, has killed any discussion that might have followed the devastating ‘The Real Hack’ documentary on ITV last night, exposing rampant national newspaper criminality.
10.11.2025 23:00 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Be clear, the American far right are coming for British democracy.
09.11.2025 20:45 — 👍 1469 🔁 548 💬 87 📌 41
The driver "managed to contact the control centre at Network Rail and get the train diverted onto the slow line", Calder says. "That was absolutely crucial because this train was scheduled to be travelling through Huntingdon station on the tracks with no platform at 125mph." "It didn't stop in the middle of nowhere, which would have been very difficult." Calder thinks this was handled in the "safest possible way" thanks to the "incredible professionalism from the driver and the police". Train drivers are trained on how to take appropriate action, he adds,
Next time someone tells you that train drivers "just push buttons" show them this from the BBC
02.11.2025 15:01 — 👍 3650 🔁 1044 💬 73 📌 37
An Essex man walked free on a suspended sentence as a judge criticised the vigilante paedophile hunter behind his arrest.
The vigilante targeted a man with ‘significant’ mental health issues & persisted in pestering him to meet after he repeatedly declined.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2558796...
Reform UK, the Russian spy & rolls of Kremlin cash: the inside story of Nathan Gill
www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
By me, @lukeharding1968.bsky.social
@peterwalker99.bsky.social
& Artem Mazhulin
The clear thread running through Goodwin's career is the drive to imbue his creepy fixation on immigration with the legitimising authority of supposed mass support. Here, audience members have disqualified themselves from the category of "the people" in his eyes by virtue of disagreeing with him.
31.10.2025 15:25 — 👍 205 🔁 65 💬 9 📌 0100 per cent this ⬇️
31.10.2025 19:27 — 👍 18 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0
Henrietta Oyibo was still on bail after drunkenly crashing her car and assaulting officers two-and-a-half years earlier.
The incident at Grays police station erupted after she was wrongly accused of breaching her bail.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2557798...
EXCLUSIVE: Essex Police has launched a standards investigation after a judge condemned officers' 'hostile, heavy-handed' treatment of a black woman in Grays police station.
Two male officers punched her in the face and one of them called her a c***.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2558009...
This is a really important piece
26.10.2025 10:58 — 👍 22 🔁 9 💬 1 📌 0
Singer Alexandra Burke is to originate the role of Chaka Khan in the world premiere of I’m Every Woman the Musical at London’s Peacock Theatre next year.
Read more 👇
whoever runs the BBC push notifications team at the moment: are you aware there are news stories out there that *aren't* about crimes perpetrated by migrants
27.10.2025 12:52 — 👍 6 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
This jaw-dropping special, rounding up Private Eye’s years of investigation into the Teesside regeneration debacle, is the kind of proper, public interest reporting that should be setting the news agenda. While we’re force-fed relentless scaremongering about refugees, real scandals evade scrutiny.
26.10.2025 12:29 — 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1Yesterday's sentencing was the busiest I've ever seen a court, four families each permanently scarred by a horrific chain of events that began with illegal drugs - as do, I would estimate, the large majority of violent cases I cover, including domestic violence.
24.10.2025 07:57 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The family of Kieran Shepherd, said the judge, are also serving 'a life sentence' of their own, the 'devastating impact' on their own lives detailed yesterday in heartbreaking impact statements.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2556640...
It is not only O'Keeffe who has been sent to prison.
Two of his friends, Harrison Carpenter and Joseph Dawe, helped him chase down Kieran Shepherd.
They have been jailed for a combined 21.5 years for manslaughter.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2556542...
I was the only journalist present for O'Keeffe's testimony. I sat through every minute he was in the witness box.
I wrote this article after he was convicted, reflecting on his live evidence.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2545084...
But the prosecution suggested he had revelled in his gangster image, filming himself showing off illegal weapons, including a zombie knife.
I got the CPS to release the clips. They, and his feeble explanations for them, were likely key to his conviction.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2556200...
O'Keeffe told jurors he had a troubled childhood, became dependent on cannabis & was 'groomed' by a drugs gang into dealing to fund his own habit.
After police arrested him & seized thousands in takings, he was left in debt to the gang & couldn't quit.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2541135...
THREAD: I was in court yesterday as Essex drug dealer Zack O'Keeffe received a life sentence for murdering a customer.
He stabbed Kieran Shepherd in the back after Shepherd stole two wraps of cocaine from him.
The whole case was immensely sad...
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2556628...
A 16-year-old boy caught with a gun in Essex has been relocated after claiming he was a victim of modern slavery.
He appeared in court today by video link to plead guilty to firearm possession.
The court heard he and his family had been threatened.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2555722...
EXCLUSIVE: Energy company UK Power Networks is to go on trial in Essex after an employee died in an explosion.
The firm pleaded not guilty this afternoon to two charges brought by the Health and Safety Executive.
www.echo-news.co.uk/news/2555751...
